


a change of pace

by murderouscrows



Series: Tales of Dad and his Whalers [2]
Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Baby, Bad Parenting, Dad!Daud, Gen, Orphans, Slum AU, Young!Whalers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 11:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/899852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderouscrows/pseuds/murderouscrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daud is left home alone with the baby. Neither of them are thrilled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a change of pace

**Author's Note:**

> also available on tumblr: http://murderous-crows.tumblr.com/post/56563839803/a-change-of-pace

“Billie, the baby’s crying.”

And the truth of that statement could not have been any more accurate had the baby actually been crying and not screaming at the top of its lungs, nearly puncturing holes in Daud’s eardrums. As a matter of fact, his patience only slipped further when he received no reply from his only source of potential relief which quickly morphed into horror when he realized that said source wasn’t home today. As if his splitting headache could get any worse. He wasn’t even in the same room as the screeching little demon spawn, and he was ready to throw himself in a ditch if only it meant peace and quiet.

But he couldn’t just leave the kid to cry.

Or, perhaps, he could. Daud was pretty sure that if he just left the baby to cry itself to exhaustion it would either fall asleep or become the target of the equally disgruntled neighborhood wolfhounds that would be more than happy to take the twerp off of his hands permanently. That would have been a lot funnier had it not been an actual option. Daud might have actually considered it for more than a few seconds had a new volley of screaming not split his head for the fifth time in what seemed like a single minute.

At the rate he was going the dogs might have actually come after the kid.

Daud raised his head from the table where it had come to rest sometime between the start of the whole fiasco and then. If Billie was gone for the day, then none of the other children would be around right now either. Not that he would be particularly thrilled leaving a baby in the care of Jenkins who fallen into the sewers last week, Finn who had nearly cracked his head when he fell down the stairs the other day, or really anyone else for that matter. When it came down to it, he only really trusted one other person with the health of the little ones and that was Billie.

And Billie wasn’t home.

With a sigh that he hoped sounded angry to some extent, Daud stood from where he was sitting and walked into the room where the baby had been peacefully sleeping not even ten minutes ago. As soon as he came into view, the child stopped its merciless cries for a few blissful moments. Daud had actually been foolish enough to believe that his horribly attractive mug might actually prolong the silence. Needless to say, the tears continued and he was pretty sure he was one step closer to fetching the hounds himself instead of waiting for them to arrive.

“Will you just shut up?”

Maybe he had said it a little harsh, and maybe he hadn’t so much said but shouted, but sure enough, the kid stopped. Even if it only was only for a single surprised moment as he looked up at Daud with his big brown eyes before they were gone behind his little, puffy eye lids and the waterworks proceeded once again. Daud sank forward and rested his forehead on the side of the makeshift crib with an irritated groan.

Now he felt guilty.

Not only was the kid crying, but now he was scared _and he was still fucking crying._ Daud wasn’t sure how long he stood there doing absolutely nothing to actually improve the situation, but it couldn’t have been that long because his ears had quickly begun to ring. He really wasn’t even sure why he was just standing there not doing anything to actually improve the goddamn situation. Propping his chin up on his hands, Daud looked down at the red-faced infant.

“Why are you crying, huh?”

The crying stopped again, but he wasn’t sure how long his simple luck would hold out, so he didn’t give any time to chance.

“If you don’t stay quiet, the hounds are going to come looking for you and I might just give you to them.”

Not that Daud would ever really throw the kid out to the mangy mutts. Not that he even _could._ The baby, on the other hand, just gazed up at him. Daud was quite happy in the new peace to gaze pleasantly back down until he realized that the kid was getting ready to start screaming again.

“Shh! Shh, don’t do that,” instinctively, or more like a little desperately, Daud reached into the crib and gently lifted the child into his arms. What was the little twerp’s name again? Ryan? Rosco? No. Shit. What had Billie called the kid? Ross? Was that it? Well it was now.

Ross seemed quite content to stare at Daud, too interested in the change of scenery to cry. As far as he was concerned, Daud would be more than happy to hold the kid all day if only it meant sweet relief from ear shattering screeches.

“Is that better, Ross, hm?” He cooed softly.

The child’s expression didn’t change, but that was to be taken as a good thing. In all honesty, Daud wasn’t sure how they had ended up with the kid in the first place. It wasn’t like the infant could have found his own way to Daud, which was how he had picked up most of the Whalers up until that point, and kids as young as Ross didn’t usually survive long enough in the streets to be found. Frankly Daud had no recollection of finding the kid in the first place. He had just shown up one day with the rest of the Whalers and that was that.

He wasn’t even positive as to how the crib had gotten there, only that he hadn’t been a part of its creation. As it was, it wasn’t like the makeshift baby bed was anything luxurious – it was quite far from it. But Daud had to hand it to the Whalers, the thing held up well enough. They had also been the ones tending to the infant for the few days since his discovery. Well, really it was just Billie. The rest of the kids couldn’t take care of a child any better than Daud himself, and that wasn’t very good to begin with.

“Why were you crying, huh?” Daud hummed gently to Ross.

The kid was busy playing with his calloused finger so his wholehearted attention was no longer fixated on Daud’s face like it had been prior to that. With the kid no longer crying, the silence was very pleasant. All of the Whalers were out with Billie. There was no squealing, no shouting, no arguing, none of the general noises that come with having _kids_ around _._

“You were causing quite the ruckus, you know,” Daud said as he wiped the spent tears away from the kid’s cheeks. Ross looked back up at him, big brown eyes and all. Daud smiled despite himself. He never really smiled, and it was one of the things that the Whalers were constantly trying to get him to do. It wasn’t that he didn’t like smiling, just that there weren’t many reasons to smile. But when Ross giggled back up at Daud, there couldn’t have been a more appropriate moment.

“Is that better, Ross?” He cooed softly to the child as he gently walked back to the table and sat down in one of the wobbly chairs. He took the silence affirmatively and leaned back against the loudly protesting wood.

He wasn’t sure how long he had stayed like that, holding the kid in his arms, but however long it was, Daud had started to nod off and Ross was already fast asleep before any semblance of noise was brought to his attention. He could hear some of the Whalers in the distance, they were hard to keep quiet when they didn’t want to be, but that wasn’t what had roused him out of his half slumber. Daud groggily focused his eyes on the doorway.

Billie was looking back at him with a big, shit eating grin plastered to her sun kissed face. Daud cocked his eyebrows in question not wanting to wake Ross who was so peacefully asleep in his arms. She shook her head in denial but couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face.

“What?” Daud hissed as softly as possible.

It took Billie a few moments to recompose herself. Or maybe she was just deciding whether or not to actually tell him. Either way, his question hung in the air unanswered until she finally replied.

“I never thought you to be the baby type, Daud,” Billie said between amused lips as she fled into the other room.

“Wait,” Daud said raising his voice so that she would hear him, “what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

He received no response. Well, none from Billie anyway. Ross, however, who had been startled awake by his shouting, quickly filled the air with his blood curdling screams. Daud groaned in utter hopelessness and leaned his head back on the chair.

“Billie,” he called though he knew she wouldn’t respond, “the baby’s crying.”


End file.
